chemistry - 4.5 Flashcards
What are drugs?
Substances that alter the biochemical processes in the body.
What are drugs that have beneficial effects used in?
Medicines.
What does a medicine usually contain?
The drug plus other ingredients such as fillers to add bulk or sweeteners to improve the taste.
How do drugs generally work?
By binding to specific protein molecules.
Where can these protein molecules, which drugs bind to, be found?
On the surface of a cell (receptor) or can be specific enzyme molecules within a cell.
What can drugs that act on receptors be classified as?
Agonists or antagonists.
What does an agonist do?
It mimics the natural compound and binds to the receptor molecules to produce a response similar to the natural active compound.
What does an antagonist do?
It prevents the natural compound from binding to the receptor, and so blocks the natural response from occurring.
What are many drugs that act on enzymes classified as and how do they act?
Enzyme inhibitors and act by binding to the active site of the enzyme and blocking the reaction normally catalysed there.
What is the overall shape and size of a drug?
Such that it interacts with a receptor binding site or to the active site of an enzyme.
What can the types of interactions formed include?
Van der Waals forces and/or ionic bonds.
What does the structural fragment of a drug molecule that allows it to form interactions with a receptor binding site or to an enzyme active site normally consist of?
Different functional groups correctly orientated with respect to each other.
How can the structural fragment that is involved in the drug action be identified?
By comparing the structures of drugs that have similar effects on the body.
